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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515474">Memories</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenrosemollcroft/pseuds/tenrosemollcroft'>tenrosemollcroft</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:41:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>397</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515474</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tenrosemollcroft/pseuds/tenrosemollcroft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan confronts the Doctor after Jack tells them how he came to be immortal</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Memories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"I saw you, earlier." Ryan announced when he heard the Doctor's footsteps behind him. </p><p>"What do you mean?" She stopped in front of him. </p><p>"When Jack said 'bout your friend. Rose." </p><p>The Doctor glanced down, a slight frown tugging at her lips, before the mask snapped back up. </p><p>"You see. That's what I saw." He insisted. </p><p>"I've lived a long life, Ryan. 30 years in that prison, nothing but a blink of an eye to me." </p><p>They both fell quiet for a minute, the only sound the slight wheeze of the time ship.<br/>"How many of have there been travelling with you?" </p><p>She was startled by the question. "Does it matter?" </p><p>"Do you not remember? </p><p>"Of course I do. But I have to watch everyone go. I have to watch them die, I have to send them away, I have to leave everyone behind! And one day, it'll be you and Graham and Yaz walking out those doors." </p><p>"But Rose? This Rose girl that Jack mentioned? You won't even let yourself remember. Why not?" </p><p>"I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone you - " </p><p>"You loved?" Ryan prompted. </p><p>She didn't answer. </p><p>"What was her name?" </p><p>For a moment, Ryan thought she was going to ignore him. </p><p>"Rose Tyler." She chuckled quietly to herself. "Bad Wolf, maybe." </p><p>"And who was she to you, Doctor?" </p><p>"She was a shop girl, not ordinary - nobody's ordinary. But human, happy, quiet, like you all were. I met her when there was nothing else left for me, and she saved me." </p><p>Ryan stayed quiet. </p><p>"...and I did love her. But Jack's right, she's in a parallel universe." </p><p>"Then go and get her." </p><p>"She's there because I left her there. Over a thousand years ago." </p><p>"And you have a time machine! What's stopping you?" Ryan argued. </p><p>She sighed. "All of this," she gestured around. "Gallifrey, it told me... I'm not who I thought I was. And it makes me think... what would Rose think? What would Donna, and Clara, and Amelia and Susan and Romana and Sarah and Grace all think?" </p><p>"None of that matters. You're still the Doctor. And Rose would think the same, no matter how much you've changed, for better or worse." </p><p>"Definitely worse," she smiled weakly, dragging a hand through her blonde hair. "Maybe you're right, Ryan. Maybe one day..."</p>
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